How I Work: How to Train Your Dragon Director, Dean DeBlois

The Animator and Director cut his teeth on blockbusters including Mulan and Lilo & Stitch before joining the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. As the final part is released, he discusses not making sequels for the sake of it, and why we should never underestimate kids

Warning: this article contains spoilers

Growing up in a small town in Quebec, Dean DeBlois never imagined that by his 20s he would be working on classic Disney films like Mulan and Lilo & Stitch. More recently, he has written and directed DreamWorks’ blockbuster franchise How to Train Your Dragon, which is loosely based on Cressida Cowell’s book series of the same name.

The films tell the story of a young Viking called Hiccup who disobeys his father’s wish for him to become a dragon slayer, and instead ends up befriending a fearsome night fury called Toothless. The first two films spawned countless fans among both kids and older audiences, thanks to their surprisingly emotionally intelligent take on love and loss – along with having lots of badass dragons, of course.

The final part of the trilogy is no exception, and DeBlois certainly hasn’t held back on the tear-jerker ending (more on this later). Here, he talks about his career in animation so far, and why three was the magic number in order to do Hiccup and Toothless’ story justice.